Node.js installer not working in Windows Sandbox

[hyunbinseo]

Version

No response

Platform

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.26100.0 x64

Subsystem

No response

What steps will reproduce the bug?

• Launch Windows Sandbox
• Run node-v24.11.1-x64.msi

How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?

Always

What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?

Installer to launch

What do you see instead?

There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. DLL required for this install to complete could not be run. Contact your support personnel or package vendor.

The installer does not launch at all. It's not a problem about disabling certain features:

에디션: Windows 11 Pro
버전: 25H2
설치 날짜: ‎2025-‎06-‎26
OS 빌드: 26200.7171
일련 번호: 5CG519385X
경험: Windows 기능 경험 팩 1000.26100.265.0

Additional information

It would be nice if the installation was supported, since the Sandbox is a great way to create a clean install and reproduction for Windows related bugs.

Yes the standalone binary works, but with workarounds

• NodeJS Installation Error | Windows 10 64-bit #12311 (comment)

./node # works
./npx # does not work

# File C:\Users\WDAGUtilityAccount\Desktop\node-v24.11.1-win-x64\npx.ps1 cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled on this system.

# Use with caution
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

• fnm installation is not supported due to lack of winget
• pnpm standalone installation does not work because the file is blocked:

Start-Process : This command cannot be run due to the error: 애플리케이션 제어 정책에서 이 파일을 차단했습니다.

[juanarbol]

This seems more to be a setup issue than a Node.js issue.

The error message is already telling you how to set those permissions "with caution".

Also some possible refs:

• https://stackoverflow.com/a/4038991
• https://www.reddit.com/r/computer/comments/uxdek5/file_cannot_be_loaded_because_running_scripts_is/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[hyunbinseo]

Thanks for reviewing.

Yes it is a setup issue, should I have used a different issue template?

There seems to be other installer issues in this repository:

• Installer failing on Windows #57908

---

No the GUI installer does not provide any workaround. It just complains about missing DLL.

The 'Additional information' is workarounds I've looked into, including the Set-ExecutionPolicy command.

[richardlau]

cc @nodejs/platform-windows

[StefanStojanovic]

Before going into details, let me just say that I've never used Windows Sandbox before.

With that being said, I do suspect it's the root cause of this issue. The reason is that inside it, to the best of my knowledge, some features are dropped, so probably there is an issue with running some custom action or something else during the installation.

A potential workaround I have in mind is not to download Windows Installer (.msi), but rather get a Standalone Binary (.zip). That way, you skip the installation, but can still use Node once you unzip it.

[MikeMcC399]

I had never used Windows Sandbox before, however I did install it in Windows 11 Pro 25H2 and successfully installed the Node.js Active LTS msi (https://nodejs.org/dist/v24.11.1/node-v24.11.1-x64.msi) in it.

The original error message seems to point to the issue:

File C:\Users\WDAGUtilityAccount\Desktop\node-v24.11.1-win-x64\npx.ps1 cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled on this system.